In My Galaxy
by Caty91
Summary: After Elizabeth sees that the animals in the Pegasus galaxy are getting sick she decides to bring a wildlife veterinarian to Atlantis and she know exactly who to bring. Sheppard whump later on. The whole team included.
1. Meet the wildlife veterinarian

I'm back with a new story. I was actually watching episode where Colonel Sheppard mentioned some kind of flying monkey and since we didn't get so much information about the animals in the Pegasus Galaxy in the TV-Show. So I wanted to write a story that focus on the animal aspects of the galaxy. The story set in early Season 2 after the episode Runner. This is a Sheppard/OC story with Elizabeth/Dr. Mike Branton.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize from the show but anything you don't recognize is mine. However I don't know if many of you remember the name Dr. Mike Branton, but he is actually a character from the show and not an OC.

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Chapter 1 - Meet the wildlife veterinarian

The office was packed with boxes with all sorts of document that the IOA had shipped with the Daedalus. Glancing quickly at them stacked on top of each other, she sighed.

Dr. Elizabeth Weir was sitting in her office, looking through a new personnel file which the IOA had sent as recommendation for the various positions at Atlantis. She hadn't been able to look through half of the recommendations from the IOA, and for some reason the files of new soldiers had ended up at her desk. Sometimes she wished that she were only a normal scientist and not the head of the base.

She could hear that her stomach was demanding food and she realized that she hadn't gotten the chance to eat since she had been working through the day without any breaks. A knock on the door made her look up from the file.

"Elizabeth, you wanted to see me."

Elizabeth smiled at the chief of medicine of Atlantis, "Carson, yes, I did. Have a seat," She offered, gesturing towards the chair.

Carson sat down, looking cheerful, "What can I do for you?"

Elizabeth picked up a file from her drawer from her desk and slid the file over to Carson, "As you know that there are a variety of animals in this galaxy and I've heard that people have come to you to ask if you could help these animals. I know they aren't exactly your field of expertise so I want to bring a wildlife veterinarian to Atlantis."

Carson looked down and quickly read through the file and looked back up at Elizabeth, "Good records but why do you come to me with this?"

"Well, you are the Chief of medicine and I want your opinion on this," Elizabeth said.

"Aye, I think that a wildlife veterinarian would be a good idea," Carson said, and clapped his hands together, "Is there anything else?"

"No, Carson. That was all."

"Okay, I'm going back to the infirmary." Carson stood up and headed out the door but as he reached the doorway, he stopped and turned around, "Don't get over your head with work now."

Elizabeth smiled, "Don't worry, Carson. I am fine."

"If you say so, love, but if there is anything I can help you with, you know where I'm at," Carson assured her and walked out of her office.

* * *

**Three weeks later**

She was standing in the middle of a crowd and she was looking around in awe. This place was beyond her dreams. She had watched the movie Atlantis but she never knew that it was actually real. Fiction had suddenly become real life. She couldn't' stop looking around. If she turned her neck around one more time, she was sure that it would break. It was almost overwhelming.

They had been divided in three different groups. The first group was soldiers, the second group was scientists and a third group was medical personnel. She had been placed in the group of medical personnel. She tried to see what was going on but the tall man in front of her blocked her view so she tried to stand on her toes but it was no use.

"Dr. Ruth Abbott?" She heard someone call out her name so she raised a hand in the air. Suddenly the man in front of her took a step to the side, making it possible for her to see what was going on.

"Come with me, Dr. Abbott," the soldier ordered her. Ruth grabbed her bag from the floor and followed the soldier up some stairs and over a small bridge that lead into an office. Her smile grew bigger when she saw who was sitting in the office. She dropped her bag on the floor and quickly went over to the lady and gave her a hug.

"Elizabeth, it's so nice to see you again," Ruth said and pulled away.

"It has been several years now since the last time I saw you." Elizabeth pointed out, smiling at her friend.

Ruth looked around in the office. It was typical Elizabeth; books and papers were everywhere on the desk. Elizabeth was a talented woman and she was not surprised that her friend had gone so far. She just hadn't expected that her friend would end up in another galaxy.

"Impressive place you have here, Elizabeth," Ruth said.

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I can't complain."

All of the sudden a very loud growl could be heard from Elizabeth's stomach.

Elizabeth immediately placed her hands on her stomach, looking a little embarrassed, "I'm sorry. It have been three weeks of lots of work and little food and I haven't almost eaten all day."

"Maybe we can grab something to eat and you can tell me about everything," Ruth suggested.

"Sure, I would like that."

Ruth grabbed her bag and followed after her friend. As they headed to the Mess Hall, Ruth felt like she was on an autopilot. She was amazed and scared at the same time. This was going to take some time to get used to if she got to use to this at all. She followed Elisabeth into a huge room that she guessed was the Mess Hall. People were eating, chatting and some people were actually playing chess or dam, she wasn't sure. She followed Elizabeth over to an occupied table.

_God, is she going to make me meet people already? _Ruth was not a social butterfly. It wasn't like she hated meeting new people but she usually felt very uncomfortable meeting new people, and being somewhere far away from Earth, would probably make her even more uncomfortable. She could feel that her palms were getting sweatier and she quickly dried her palms on the side of her jeans.

Approaching the table, they turned their attention at her. "Hi guys, this is Dr. Ruth Abbott, the wildlife veterinarian," Elizabeth introduced her to the group. She gave them a quick wave. The female smiled at her.

"I am Teyla Emmagen, Nice meeting you Dr. Abbott," The woman introduced herself.

Ruth was not a people person like she wished she could be but she got the feeling that this woman was a kind person.

"I'm Lt. Colonel John Sheppard," the guy who sat closer to her said and extended his hand. She shook it and then let go off it.

"Ronon Dex," The guy with the dreads said and gave her a quick wave.

All of them had introduced themselves except for one of them who was devouring the chicken breast that was on his plate. They all had changed their attention at the guy who was far busier with finish off his meal.

"Rodney," the Colonel said, trying to catch the guy's attention but he was still busy with his food, "Rodney," he repeated a little louder.

The guy looked up from his food, looking confused with a piece of chicken hanging from his mouth, "What?" He asked still having some food in his mouth.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, McKay," Sheppard urged the head scientist of Atlantis. Rodney swallowed his food.

"This is Dr. Ruth Abbott, the wildlife veterinarian I was talking about," Elizabeth introduced.

"Oh okay," Rodney simply said and continued eating his food.

Ruth suddenly felt very out-of-place and turned towards Elizabeth, "Elizabeth, I'm not that hungry and I'm very tired so I think I'll head back to my quarters," she said and turned back facing the group, "It was nice meeting you all."

"I'll follow you," Elizabeth offered.

The wildlife veterinarian turned around and walked out of the Mess Hall with the base leader. When the veterinarian and Elizabeth was out of hearing range John locked his gaze on Rodney, "Was that necessary?"

Rodney gazed up from his food, "What?" He asked looking at John, then at Teyla and Ronon, and back at John. "What?" He repeated again.

"Would it kill you to stop shoving food in your mouth all the time and be nice to people," John pointed out.

"First of all, I need food and second, I'm not going to have any contact with that woman what so ever," Rodney stated and continued eating.

John didn't reply back, he just leaned back and watch his friend continue to shove food into his mouth.

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I hope that you liked it. Let me know what you think!


	2. Blue Air Force sweater

Chapter 2 - Blue Air Force sweater

John was strolling through the corridors of the ancient city that had become his home. He and Major Lorne had organized the new military recruits and everything was calm, too calm John concluded. He had been watching the new military recruits sparing with Ronon and they had been dropping like flies. He knew that it was unfair putting them up against Ronon, but at least he could separate the weeds from the wheat. It was not that he found it funny but it was impossible not to laugh seeing the worried faces on the new recruits. He had reminded them that there are bigger threats out in the Pegasus galaxy and that if they were getting worried going up against Ronon, they should file for reassignment back to the Stargate Command. He only wanted the most fearless and the bravest men because fighting against a Wraith were no joke. Until now, he hadn't had any recruits asking for reassignment back to the Stargate Command. However, he had to check up with Ronon later to see how it went.

As he was walking down the corridors he spotted a woman that looked very familiar walking towards him, holding couple of folders. Her civilian clothes were changed into the standard Atlantis uniform with a South African patch on the side of her arm and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Hi, Colonel, Nice seeing you again," she greeted as she came closer to him.

"It was Dr. Abbott, right?" John asked her to be sure that he wasn't mistaking her for somebody else.

"Yes, you're right," She said, smiling.

"So Dr. Abbott, how are you settling in? I see that you are already busy," he said referring to the folders she was carrying.

"Well, there is a lot of stuff to take in all at once and I need to read a lot to bring myself up to speed on what is going on in this galaxy, basically most of it is about the Ancients and the animal life in this galaxy. Everything is very interesting but it takes some time since I have to give stuff I find to a linguist. But Elizabeth told me that she will give me lessons in Ancient when she has time," she said and paused, wrinkling her nose, "But I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the Wraith and the shucking the life out of you with their bare hands freaks me a little out. I wish I knew that before I said yes to take this job. "

"I can say that the Wraith isn't our biggest fan as well, in other words, the feeling is mutual, and don't worry, we are here to protect you," John told the wildlife veterinarian. It was suddenly quiet between them, "So, have a nice day Dr. Abbott," John said to break the silence and started to walk away.

"Uhm, Colonel?" He stopped turning around. "I'm not very familiar with everything yet and I have already forgotten how I get to the lab Elizabeth assigned me to. I believe that it was next to one of the physics labs and I'm wondering if you could help me find my lab?" she asked.

John smiled, "How can I say no to help a damsel in distress." She let out a snort at his comment.

"I'm sure you had gotten plenty of chances to rescue damsels in distress since arriving to Atlantis," she joked as she let the Colonel lead the way to her lab.

"What can I say? We flyboys have been trained to rescue damsels in distress," John said and gave her a boyish smile.

"You should have a huge map on the walls where people can see where they are and you can hand out a map over the city to the new personnel, so you wouldn't have people wandering around," Dr. Abbott suggested.

"I'm going take that up with Elizabeth on the next meeting," John said, smiling.

They didn't say much when they were walking. John was thinking hard about what he can say or talk about. He looked at the veterinarian that was walking beside him and apparently she had noticed that he was looking at her because she was looking back at him giving him what looked like a very uncomfortable smile.

"So, I noticed that you have a slightly American accent but you have a South African flag on your uniform," John pointed out in curiosity.

"I was born and raised in South Africa but when I was 20 I moved to America, so that explains the American accent," She explained.

"Well, that explains it."

All of the sudden the folders slid out of the veterinarian's arms and on to the floor. John heard that she let out a frustrated sigh. She kneeled down and started to stressfully pick up the papers. John kneeled down to help her pick up the papers.

"I'm so sorry. This is the second time it have happened," She said as John handed her the last paper from the floor, "Thank you." They both stood up.

"Don't worry about it," John said as he could see the woman blushing.

They continued walking and stepped into one of many transporters in Ancient City. John pushed on the part of Atlantis they were heading to. It didn't take long before the transporter had reached their desired destination. They stepped out of the transported and headed down a long narrow corridor.

"Fool!"

"Bite me!"

"You're an Imbecile!"

"Oh, how mature!"

"Well, I'm not the one who wanted to turn it on. I don't think that Dr. McKay will be happy if you open some kind of wormhole."

John could hear someone shout from one of the labs that were located in the corridor. He had been used to hearing heated arguments from the labs. However, he had learned to ignore it. He looked down at the woman and he could see that she was worried.

"Don't worry, Doc. That's something you'll hear very often. This happens if you place scientists who have bigger egos than IQs in the same room," John said.

She smiled, trying to suppress a laugh as they walked a little further away from the arguing people. She pointed at the end of the corridor, "There, that's my lab."

Stepping into the lab, John saw that it had been bombarded with folders that were lying on the desk covering the standard Atlantis laptop that John could see sticking out on the side, and boxes were stacked on top of each other on the floor. In the middle of the lab there was a table that looked like an examination table that you could find at a veterinarian clinic. However it wasn't the boxes or the folders that caught John's attention. It was the knitting pins and the red yarn that were lying on the desk.

"I've never seen knitting pins and yarn at Atlantis before," John pointed out.

She placed the folders on the desk and turned around looking at John, "Oh, it's a silly hobby of mine."

"Maybe you can knit a sweater for me."

She smiled, "I brought a whole stack of yarn in different color. Maybe I'll knit you a blue sweater that says Air Force. You'll be the coolest soldier at Atlantis," she joked.

"Well, I don't need a sweater to make me cool. I'm already cool but I would definitely standout in a blue knitted Air Force sweater."

"Ah, how could I forget that, but thank you for taking your time to follow me to the lab," she thanked him and gave him a smile.

John walked closer to the veterinarian, "No pro,-," he managed to say before he felt the floor shake. He pushed the doctor on the floor and threw himself over her and covered his and Dr. Abbott's heads with his arms before John felt a pressure from a blast over his head.

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A/N: First of all I want to say thank you for the reviews, alerts and those who have put this story to their favorite list.

Second of all I appreciate your input but I have written the outline to this story so I won't change the parings. Sorry! And also I wouldn't label Ruth as antisocial but she is somewhat more socially awkward. There is a difference between being antisocial which means that for example you have lack for empathy and socially awkward. Anyhow, let me know what you think by leaving a review!

Thank you to my beta reader! You know who you are!


	3. Lights out

I'm back with chapter 3 and this chapter contains some spoilers to Rising part 1 and 2. I don't own anything that is associated with Stargate Atlantis but everything you don't recognize from the show I do own. I'm going away for a week, so I won't be able to update next week but here is at least chapter 3.

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Chapter 3 – Lights out

John slowly opened his eyes and he rolled to the side. He was covered with dust from the explosion. Letting out a cough, he felt a sharp pain coming from his ribs and as he rolled over to the side he felt the same sharp pain. He gasped for air couple of times before he looked to the side to check on the wildlife veterinarian.

"Are you okay?" John asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Dr. Abbott looked up from where she was lying, looking disorientated, and letting out a cough. Her hair was standing in every direction possible and her face was covered with dust, and she was slightly bleeding from her forehead.

"I..I. I'm…. I think so," She stammered, looking around, "What happened?"

"Looks like an explosion, I'm going to check the other lab if there was anyone hurt," John said and as he stood up he gasped in pain.

"You are hurt," Dr. Abbott said and quickly stood up.

John turned around, facing the Doctor, "I'm fine. Stay here."

As he was about to head out from the lab he felt something holding him back. He turned looking down at his arm and shifted his gaze a little further up at the woman.

"Please don't leave me here. Let me come with you," She begged him.

John bit his lips, hesitating for a minute, "Okay. Stay behind me just in case."

She nodded and followed John out of the lab. The corridor was filled with a thick layer of dust from the explosion, but he kept moving and made his way to the other lab where the two scientists had been. Before entering John tapped on his ear piece, "This is Colonel Sheppard. There has been an accident in one of the labs."

"_Good to hear that you are alive, Colonel Sheppard. We know and we are already on our way, Sir,"_ Chuck informed.

Stepping into the lab, he saw an almost brunt out lab and what was was supposed to be a desk; it was now only a big black mark. He quickly scanned the rest of the lab as he stepped deeper into the lab and he stopped abruptly when he was met with a horrifying sight. He immediately turned around, walked over to Dr. Abbott and placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her out, "We need to go out."

"Why?" She asked as she looked over her shoulder trying to catch a glimpse of the scientists, "But if they are hurt we need to help them."

"There is nothing we can do for them now," John told her.

When they stepped into the corridor, they headed back to the veterinarian lab to wait for the rest of the team, then they entered the lab and sat down against the wall.

"How is your side, Colonel?" Dr. Abbott asked after several minutes of silence.

"I think I've bruised a rib or two," He said, "And you can call me John."

"And you can call me Ruth," She said back. She leaned her head against the wall and placed her hand over her eyes, "I can't believe that I've only been here a week and I've already been in an accident," Ruth said, and removed her hands and stared straight ahead.

"There is nothing like a quiet day at Atlantis," John pointed out.

All of the sudden his earpiece buzzed. He tapped on his piece, "Colonel Sheppard here."

"_Colonel, its Major Lorne. We have a slightly issue." _

"Okay, what kind of issue," John responded slowly, looking at Ruth. He could see that she was getting worried.

"_We can't get down to you. Zelenka is working on it," _Major Lorne told his commanding officer_. _

John was about to reply to his second in command when the light suddenly disappeared and it became pitch black. He tapped on his earpiece, "Major Lorne, what happened to the lights?"

"_We're still working on the transporter but I'll send someone to figure it out, Lorne out,"_ Major Lorne said and disappeared from John's ear.

"Oh no no no!" John could hear Ruth cry out in fear.

John quickly reached out his hands, trying to feel his way to her. After several tries, he managed to get a hold of Ruth's arm but he could feel that she was dragging her arm away, "It's me," John said, "There is no one else here. It's just me and you down here."

"How do you know that?!" She squeaked, "What if there is someone here," She whispered.

"I'm here," He assured her, "If you want to come closer, you can." Within second he could feel her next to him.

"Thank you," She whispered.

"No problem, as I told you before, we flyboys are trained to rescue damsels in distress," He said, trying to lighten the mood. She let out a quiet laugh which made him smile.

"How long have you been at Atlantis?" She asked.

"For about a year now."

"You were with the first group that stepped through the gate right? I'm sure that you must have been amazed with all this when you first arrived."

"I was, however the problems had started already when we first arrived," John began as memories from his first arrival at Atlantis started to become clearer, "The city was under water and the power level were failing. We had to find a ZPM, so the former head of Atlantis Colonel Sumner put together a team and we headed out, that's when the real problems started."

"Why do I have a bad feeling that the Wraith is going to show up," Ruth said in the dark.

"Because they did. We met Teyla and her people. The Wraith showed up capturing some of Teyla's people and some of the soldiers, including Colonel Sumner. We found where they were located and we managed to rescue them except,-" John's voice slowly faded while the guilt came rushing over him. He let out a heavy sigh, "Except for Colonel Sumner; I heard a scream and I followed where it had come from and I found Colonel Sumner getting fed upon. So I decided to shoot him to spare him the pain."

"That must have been hard to do," Ruth said.

"Yes, it was really hard but if it had been me, I would had wished that someone had done the same." John admitted. He had never been fed upon by a Wraith but he had seen it with his own eyes and truth be told, he would had begged someone to shoot him before the Wraith could finish him off.

Ruth didn't respond and it was quiet in the dark. John couldn't remember the last time it had been so quiet in a corridor in the lost city of Atlantis. All of the sudden, the light started to flicker on and after several minutes they could hear footsteps running towards them.

"Colonel Sheppard!" John heard a familiar voice call out to him. He carefully stood up, holding his breath when the sharp pain started to spread through his ribs. When he had managed to stand up straight, he rushed out into the corridor to meet the others.

Rushing out of the lab he almost collided with Major Lorne.

"Colonel, what happened?" Major Lorne wanted to know, "We could hear a loud bang and tried to get here as quickly as possible but the transported stopped working. Anyone injured?"

"I was walking Dr. Abbott to her lab and I overheard the two scientists arguing about some kind of ancient device. I got to Dr. Abbott's lab and we talked a little. That was when I could feel the floor shake. The two scientists in the other lab are dead and far as I can tell Dr. Abbott is not injured only a little shaken up," John said, trying to give an overview of the situation to the Major.

"What the hell happened?!" John could hear another very familiar voice further down the corridor. Both of the soldiers turned their attention, spotting Rodney marching down the corridor, and he wasn't looking happy to say the least.

"Two of your scientists messed around with some kind of ancient device and the device blew up. It almost took me and Dr. Abbott with it," John stated.

"And how are Dr. Clark and Dr. Everson," Rodney asked but his voice slowly faded, looking at the two soldiers, realizing what had happened to the two scientists.

"How many have been injured?" A Scottish accent could be heard.

"Two dead and Dr. Abbott is in the lab, she seems fine but she's a little shaken up and has injured her forehead," The Colonel informed Carson as he came rushing towards them with a bag over his shoulder.

Without saying anything Carson and two other medics rushed into the lab, disappearing from their eyesight but it didn't take long before Carson came out and walked over to the three men.

"How are you, lad?" Carson asked, placing a hand John's shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just a couple of sore ribs," He told the Doctor.

"You're coming with me to the infirmary to check those out." Carson ordered.

John shot a hesitating glance at Major Lorne. "I'll take care of everything, Sir," The Major assured him.

"Okay," John said and he followed Carson to the infirmary.

John had been sitting in the infirmary for the last two hours. Carson had wanted to make sure that his ribs were not fractured or bruised, so he had made John go through several X-Rays. He was sitting on a bed waiting for Carson's results.

"I have some good news and some bad news, Colonel," Carson said as he approached John's bed, "The good news is that your ribs are not fractured but the bad news is that your ribs are bruised, I have to take you off active duty."

John frowned, "Can't you just give me some painkillers and I'll be fine," He tried to convince Carson that he didn't need to be taken off active duty.

"This is not a negotiation but I'll give you some painkillers," Carson said and walked over to the medicine cabinet, opened it with his key and grabbed some painkillers before heading back to John. Carson handed the Colonel the pills, "These are strong, so strong take them only if you are in severe pain."

"Thank you, Doc," John thanked the doctor, trying to hide that he wasn't pleased. He carefully got down from the bed, "I'll see you around, Carson."

"Take care of your ribs and no sparing or any kind of workouts," Carson warned him as John was heading out of the infirmary.

John walked out to the corridors and started to head to the Mess Hall to see if his friends were there. When he arrived, he scanned the place finally spotting two of them and he made his way over to the table.

"What are you guys doing?" John asked while he carefully sat down in the empty chair.

"I think we should ask you that question. We heard what happened, are you okay, John?" Teyla asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. Beckett gave me some painkillers and took me off active duty until my ribs are healing," He explained, "Where is Rodney?"

"Does that mean we can't go off-world until you get better?" Ronon asked, leaning back in his chair, resting his feet on the empty chair next to him.

"Ronon," Teyla said in warning tone, and turned her attention back at John, "We are glad that you weren't severely injured."

John's attention was suddenly focusing on a woman that was sitting alone, reading while she was eating. He turned back his attention at Teyla and Ronon, "Excuse me for a second." John shoved his chair back and slowly stood up. He walked over to the woman.

"Are you okay?" John asked, causing the woman to look up.

"Yes, I'm fine," Ruth replied, wearing a band aid on her forehead.

"I haven't see you since the accident, so I just wonder how you were," John said and paused for a second, "Look, I'm sitting with my friends, and I was wondering if you would care to join us."

"Ehm..Uhm… I'm very tired and it's getting late, so I have to go," She quickly responded, shoving her chair backwards causing it to hit a soldier that was walking behind her with his tray. Ruth quickly turned around and John could clearly see that she was embarrassed due to the nice shade of red she was turning. He also noticed that other people in the Mess Hall had turned their attention at them.

"God, I'm so sorry," Ruth apologized and kneeled down starting to clean up the mess that she had caused.

"It's okay, ma'am. No harm done," The soldier assured her.

It took a minute to clean up the mess. Ruth and the soldier stood up almost at the same time, "Again, I'm so sorry. I should have been more careful," Ruth said.

"No problem, Doc," The soldier replied, "Colonel," The soldier said before he walked off with his tray and the broken glass from the cup. John gave the soldier a nod.

"I think I have to go before I make any more mess, and it have been a long day, so goodnight," Ruth said before she grabbed her tray.

"Goodnight," John said back, smiling.

John walked back to his friends that were looking in his direction and carefully sat down in the empty chair.

"What was that all about?" Ronon asked, still sitting in the same position as he did when John had left the table.

"I don't know," John admitted, holding his gaze at the door, watching her leaving the Mess Hall.

The later that evening John was sitting in his office writing up an incident report about the acciden. His ribs were shooting a sharp pain through his whole body when he moved and he glanced at the box of painkillers. Grabbing the box he opened it and shoved a pill in his mouth.

"Am I bothering you?" Someone asked him.

John looked up and found his friend standing in the doorway, "No, not at all. Come in, Rodney."

Rodney stepped into John's office and sat down in the empty chair.

"How are you doing, Rodney?" John asked, noticing that something was bothering his friend.

"Not so well," Rodney admitted.

"Is what happened earlier today bothering you?"

"I should had checked out the device myself and not put two new scientists on it." Rodney said.

"Rodney, it's not your fault," John began and paused, looking at his friend, "Look, stuff like this happens. We all know that what we are doing is dangerous and anything can happen. You have seen it yourself that no one is safe here and that's the price we all have to pay to protect Earth from the Wraith. You did nothing wrong, Rodney and this is not your fault. "

"But why do I feel that it's my fault. I mean, if I only,-"

"Stop, Rodney. It was not your fault, you have to let it go," John said, interrupting his best friend and closed his laptop screen, "Okay, let's make some popcorn and watch a movie." John stood up from his chair and grabbed his jacket.

Rodney looked up him in surprise, "What movie?"

"Your choice," John said, walking to the doorway and stopped, turned around and looked at Rodney, "Are you coming?" He asked and started to walk out the door.

Rodney quickly stood up from the chair and followed John out the door, "Do we have Forrest Gump?"

"We can check," John said as he and his friend headed to the Mess Hall to get some popcorn for the movie.

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So that was chapter 3 and some Sheppard whump but fear not, there will be more Sheppard whump later on. There will be animal stuff in the next chapter. Let me know what you think by leaving a review.


	4. Is he serious?

A/N: I'm back with chapter 4 and I'm sorry for taking so long before posting this but I have an exam next Friday so I have to read for that exam and this chapter will be last chapter before I'm done with my exam on Friday.

This chapter is slightly based from what I experienced last summer. My dog got cancer and we had to put my dog to sleep. Therefore, this chapter is dedicated to my 11 year old dog that left a big empty hole in my and my family's heart.

I want to thank everyone who have favorite the story, reviewed and put the story on your alert list, and a big shout out to my beta reader Anna Becker! I hope that you guys like this chapter.

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Chapter 4 - Is he serious?

Ruth was sitting in her temporary lab, looking through the ancient database that had been translated by the linguists. She felt like a kid in a candy store. For the past hour or so she had found a list of animals that had been extinct for several years. She enthusiastically wrote down the gate addresses where they were located.

Suddenly her earpiece started to buzz, making her jump a little in her chair. She hadn't quite gotten used to having something around her ear that could start to buzz at any time.

She tapped on her earpiece, "Dr. Abbott here."

"_Ruth, its Elizabeth. Can you please come to my office?"_ Her friend asked her over the communication system.

"Sure, Elizabeth. I'll be on my way," Ruth replied. She gently closed her laptop, grabbed her jacket and headed to Elizabeth's office.

Ruth made her way through the corridors. She was getting to know her way around but she still had some moment where she became lost. She made her way to the control room and continued her way up the stairs and over the little bridge leading to Elizabeth's office and knocked on the side of the doorway causing her friend to look up from what she was doing.

"Elizabeth, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. Sit down," Elizabeth offered, gesturing at the chair.

Ruth sat down, "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Elizabeth smiled, leaned her elbows on her desk and folded her hands, "While being off-world at P4M-235 Major Lorne and his team stumbled over some sick animals in a village they visited and want you to have a look."

She widened her eyes, "I have only been here three weeks and you want me to go off-world already?"

"I know that you haven't been at Atlantis very long but there are animals that need your help, and Major Lorne is one of the best officers we have, so I know that you would be in good hands," Elizabeth replied.

Ruth hesitated for second and let out a defeated sigh, "When do I leave?

"In two hours," The leader of the base responded.

"Okay, if there wasn't anything else I'll get ready," Ruth said.

"No, I'm done. Good luck," Her friend said.

"Thanks," She said, stood up and headed out of the office to get ready.

Ruth was standing in the gate room fully geared up with her bag pack with medical supplies on her back, staring straight at the round thing in front of her. The Atlantis patch on her uniform was removed. She was getting more nervous as the minutes went by in the gate room.

_Who wouldn't be nervous going on an alien planet, but nothing will happen. You'll come back to Atlantis in one piece,_ Ruth mentally agreed with herself.

"Are you ready, Dr. Abbott? " Major Lorne asked her as he walked closer to her.

"Yeah, sure," Ruth replied, giving him a nervous smile.

Major Lorne smiled reassuringly at her in return. "You'll be fine. Alright, let's get moving." He gave a signal to his team to move out.

She watched at the others stepped through the gate. She slowly stepped in front of it and hesitated. She turned her head around, looking up at the control room where Elizabeth was standing, smiling at her. She turned her head back again and took a heavy breath and took her first step through the gate.

Fumbling out of the event horizon of the Stargate to P4M-235, she was heading straight for the ground but before she could hit the ground she felt someone grabbing her arm and pulling her up on her feet.

"Watch out there, Doc, we don't want you to knock your teeth out on your first time off-world," The Major told her, letting go of her arm.

"Thank you, Major," She thanked him and gave him a smile.

"Alright, let's move. I want to get back to the city before dark," Major Lorne ordered.

They started to walk the direction of the village. There wasn't much to see expect a couple of trees and grass. She felt that her muscles were starting to loosen up and feeling that the nervousness was starting go away.

_This wasn't bad as you thought it would be,_ Ruth thought as a smile was forming on her face. So far she was actually starting to enjoy being off-world. Maybe coming to the Pegasus galaxy was good for her after all, and maybe she would become less socially awkward and more of a social butterfly that she always wanted to be.

"So, Doc. How are you enjoying being off-world so far?" Major Lorne wanted to know, who was walking in front of her.

She walked a little quicker to catch up with the Major, "Surprisingly, I'm enjoying myself so far."

"That's good to hear that you are enjoying yourself off-world," The Major said and gave her one of those infamous flyboy smiles that would make a girl lose her skirt.

"_So far_," She repeated, putting an emphasis on the two words.

"Trust me, Doc, in the end of this mission you'll be begging to stay," Major Lorne said, causally.

"We'll see," She mumbled under her nose.

They walked for half an hour before they reached the village. Entering they earned a couple of stares, making Ruth feel very uncomfortable. The women that she saw were looking more frightened than suspicious as the men did. The village looked like it could be taken straight out from the year 1800. The buildings were made of wood and looked like it housed more than one family. It definitely didn't look like it was a wealthy village and the villagers were dressed like they came from the 1800. She quickly walked a little closer behind Major Lorne just in case something would happen. They continued walk a little further until they were met by an old man that wore a worn out grey robe. He had a long white hair and a long white beard.

"Major Lorne, you are back," The old men said and change his gaze at Ruth, "Is this the person who is going to help our animals?"

"Yes, that's correct," Major Lorne confirmed, resting his arms at his P-90 that was hanging from his vest.

"But it's a woman," The old man pointed out in surprise. Ruth raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem?" The Major asked dryly.

"Yes, I don't think that the Chancellor will be happy if the doctor is a woman."

"Where is the Chancellor?" Major Lorne asked.

"I'll take you to him." The old man said, turned around and started to walk.

They followed the old man into a house that was nearby. Stepping to the house, Ruth spotted a chubby man that was sitting in a chair that looked like some kind of thrown. He was wearing better clothes than the others that she had seen in the village.

"Chancellor." The old man greeted and slightly bowed in front of the Chancellor.

"Tutor, who are these people?" The Chancellor demanded to know.

"These are the people that I told you was going to heal our animals, but there is a slightly problem," Tutor informed.

The Chancellor changed his gaze from Tutor to the group that was standing in front of him, narrowing his eyes at Ruth, "I guess that's the problem?"

"Sir, I'm not a problem," Ruth suddenly blurted out. Her eyes immediately widened when she realized what she had done.

"Silence!" The Chancellor thundered, slightly holding up a hand, "Women don't speak until she has been spoken to."

Ruth took a step back colliding with Sergeant Stevens that placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We came here to help and Dr. Abbott is the most qualified to help you," Major Lorne said as he started to get annoyed with the Chancellor's behaviour.

"Yes, I know that but then we didn't think that the person who could help was a woman," The Chancellor said.

Ruth was starting to feel angry. She didn't know what the Chancellor's problem was but the Chancellor was a male chauvinist and a sexist pig.

"Dr. Abbott is the only who has the skills to heal your animals," Major Lorne told the Chancellor, trying to convince him to let Ruth look at the animals.

"I don't like letting women free. You see Major, in this village women's duty is to look after the house and kids, and not speak until they are spoken to by a man. They are certainly not running around healing animals. They are less skilled than us men, I thought you knew that, Major," The Chancellor said, finishing his monologue of various reasons why women were less superior then men.

"Well, on our planet women are educated and they can say and do whatever they want," Major Lorne said dryly.

The Chancellor frowned, looking sceptical at the group, "I don't believe you, Major."

Major Lorne let out a frustrated sigh, "Chancellor, I'll keep Dr. Abbott under my supervision while she is looking at the animals and I'll make sure that she won't speak to anyone."

Ruth's eyes widened when she heard Major Lorne's offer. _Is he serious?_

The Chancellor hesitated while his eyes were narrowing at Ruth for couple of seconds before he changed his gaze at Major Lorne, "Fine," He said and shifted his glance at Tutor, "Go with them."

"Yes, Chancellor," Tutor said and bowed his head.

"Thank you, Sir," Major Lorne thanked the Chancellor and turned around looking at the rest of his team and Ruth, "Okay, let's go."

They walked out of the house and followed Tutor where the animals were. While walking through the village Ruth noticed that all of the women she saw were wearing long dresses that reached the ground and a very old fashioned bonnet.

They walked for couple of minutes before they arrived to a building that looked like some kind of an old barn.

They stopped. Tutor turned around, facing the group, "The animals are inside there," He said, pointing at the barn.

"Okay," Ruth simply said and started to head over to the building but suddenly she felt a hand grabbing a hold of her arm. Turning around she saw that it was Major Lorne.

"Hold on, Doc. We go first," Major Lorne explained and let go of her arm and walked in front of Ruth followed by Lt. Reed and Sergeant Stevens. Ruth followed the Lieutenant and the Sergeant.

"Wait here," Lorne ordered her as they walked up to the barn. Lieutenant Reed carefully opened the door, looking in and looked back at his superior officer, "Clear."

Ruth quickly walked past the soldiers and walked into the building. Spotting four animals that was lying on the hay, she stopped abruptly, "This can't be".

"What? Something wrong?"

She turned her stunned gaze at Major Lorne that was now standing beside her, "Archaeolemur."

Lorne raised an eyebrow, "A what?"

"Archaeolemur is an extinct genus of Lemurs that includes two species. On Earth they lived in Madagascar and they lived in the Holocene epoch," She explained, "Can I get to work Major?"

"Knock yourself out but be careful," Lorne cautioned her.

Ruth walked over to one of the animals, kneeled down, took off her backpack, pulled out her stethoscope and placed the earpiece into her ears, and placed the chest piece on the lemur's heart.

"How are they?" Ruth heard Tutor asked, standing over her.

Ruth took off the earpiece, "Unfortunately this one's heart is weak. How long have they been like this?"

"For about a month," Tutor informed her.

"I don't know if I'll be able to help but I can please get back to work?" Ruth asked, annoyed.

"Yes, of course," Tutor said, nodding his head and stepped back.

Ruth put on the earpiece of the stethoscope and continued listening to the lemur's heart. After she was done, she took off the stethoscope. She took out her flashlight and checked the lemur's eyes. After she was done with her flashlight, she took out a syringe and took a blood sample of the lemur. After she took the blood sample from the lemur, she concealed the sample and placed it in her backpack.

After she was done with the first lemur, she repeated the processes with next three lemurs. It had taken her almost two hours to finish examine the lemurs.

"How are you doing, Doc?" This time it was Major Lorne that was standing over her.

"I don't know if I'll be able to do something for the animals since I don't know what's wrong with them and I can't treat them before I know what's wrong with them. I'll take a blood sample from them and see what I find and maybe find an answer what are making the animals sick. And hopefully I can give Elizabeth some answers that she has been waiting for," She explained, standing up.

"Do you want to head back?"

"Yes, I want to look at the blood sample and the tissue sample and see what's causing the animals to get sick," She said and paused, "And to be honest, I don't think I'll be able to help them at this point."

"Alright, let's notify Tutor and head back to Atlantis."

As they headed out of the barn, a woman, a little girl holding a lemur and Tutor walked into the building.

"Are you leaving, Major?" Tutor asked.

"Yes, we were going to find you and let you know," Major Lorne said.

Tutor changed his gaze at Ruth, "Can you help the lemurs?"

"I don't know yet. I have to get back to A... er... my city and run the samples but truth be told I don't know if I can help them," Ruth explained, trying to be honest as possible. She knew that in her line of work you had to be honest so you didn't create false set of hope, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

The little girl walked up to her, "Can you help my Rufinus?"

Ruth kneeled in front of the girl, "Can I hold Rufinus?" The little girl nodded and gently placed Rufinus in Ruth's arms.

Ruth sat down in the hay and placed the lemur in her lap, "Can you please give me my stethoscope, Major? It's in my bag pack," She asked, looking up.

Major Lorne looked through Ruth's bag pack and fished up the stethoscope, and handed it to Ruth.

Ruth placed stethoscope's earpiece into her ears and held the chest piece of the stethoscope on the lemur's heart. The heartbeat was very slow. She took off the earpiece, "Does Rufinus eat?"

The little girl shook her head, "No."

"Does Rufinus move around?"

"No, he only lies in his bed and sometimes he crawls and hides." It was the woman's turn to speak up.

Ruth bit her lip, not looking forward to break the news to the little girl. She took a heavy breath, "I'm so sorry to tell you but Rufinus isn't doing so well."

The little girl stared at Ruth and then her lips started to shake and tears started to run down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Ruth said. She felt awful for breaking the little girl's heart.

The woman rushed over to the little girl, kneeled and gave the little girl a hug. The woman pulled back and looked at Ruth, "What do we have to do?"

"I can't tell you what you should do but I can give you two options, one of the options is to put the Rufinus to sleep and the other option is to let him die at home."

"What do you mean with to sleep?" The woman asked.

"I inject a deadly dose of sleeping drugs which will make the heart stop and Rufinus will not feel any pain," Ruth explained.

"Okay, do it," The woman said. Ruth nodded. The woman looked down at the girl, wiping the tears away, "Ava, Rufinus aren't doing well and he going to a better place soon." Ava threw herself around the woman's neck and started to sob.

"Ava, you can hold Rufinus when he's going away. Do you want that?" Ruth asked, trying to hold a steady voice. She loved her job but this was the worst part of her job and she always got emotional whenever she had to put an animal to sleep. Ava turned around, looking at Ruth and nodded.

Ava slowly walked over to Ruth and gently picked up Rufinus and sat down next to Ruth.

"Major, can you please hand me my bag pack?" Ruth asked. Major Lorne picked up the bag pack and gave it to Ruth.

Ruth opened her bag pack and searched through her bag pack and picked up a little glass that contained liquid sleeping drug, and picked up an empty syringe, and filled up the empty syringe with sleeping drug.

"Can you please hold this for me?" Ruth asked the Major who was standing close to her. He took the syringe. She looked inside her bag pack for the shaver that she always carried around in her bag pack. When she found it, she picked it up, turned it on and shaved of a patch on the lemur's paw. She placed the shaver down and fished up a rubber band and tied it around the lemur's paw trying to make the lemur's vein visible.

She placed the syringe and emptied it into Rufinus's vein. After she was done, she looked at the little girl who was petting her pet while the tears were running down her lightly pink cheeks.

Ruth then placed the earpiece into her ears and held the chest piece of the stethoscope where the Rufinus's heart was located. There was no heartbeat. She took off the earpiece, "Rufinus is in a better place now."

As the little girl's tears became more intense, she lifted her pet close to her face, "Bye Rufinus," She mumbled and snuggled her nose into the fur.

The woman walked over to Ava and kneeled down in front of her, "We are going to have a burial for Rufinus. Would you like that, Ava?" She asked, smiling with tears in her eyes.

Ava looked up at the woman and nodded, "Mom, can we pick some flowers for Rufinus burial?"

Her mom placed her hand on Ava's heart and wiped away the tears, "Of course, sweetheart."

Ava stood up from the hay still holding Rufinus and started to walk out of the barn with her mother, leaving Tutor with Major Lorne and Ruth.

Ruth stood up from the hay and looked at Major Lorne, "Can we go back home?" The Major nodded.

"When are you coming back?" Tutor wanted to know.

Ruth looked at Major Lorne not sure if she could speak or not.

"Doctor, you can speak freely," Tutor said.

"Okay," She began, "I'm going to run the tissue and blood sample and when I get the results, I'll be back," Ruth said and smiled.

Tutor smiled back and extended his hand, "Thank you for taking your time, Doctor."

Ruth looked down at the extended hand and looked up at Tutor smiling and took the hand and shook it, "No problem, Sir."

"Major," Tutor said, nodded and headed out

"Pack your stuff and let's head back home," Lorne said and walked out of the barn.

Ruth quickly packed up her stuff, threw her bag pack on her should and headed out.

"Ready to go?" Lorne asked as Ruth stepped out of the barn. She nodded.

They started to head out from the village. While they were walking down the path out from the village, the sun had started to set. Ruth smiled to herself. She had survived her first trip off-world and to be honest she actually enjoyed being off-world and she was looking forward to her next trip off-world.

"So Doc, how did you like being off-world?" Major Lorne asked as he walked up next to her.

"I enjoyed being off-world and it wasn't bad as I had thought it would be," Ruth admitted.

The Major gave her a smile, "I thought you would like it," He said and paused, "Look, I was wondering if you wanted to have some supper with me when we get back?"

"Sure, Major. That would be nice." Ruth smiled as she walked next to the Major, thinking about today event_. This wasn't bad at all_, Ruth thought.

* * *

Ruth was sitting in the reading room reading in quiet, away from the stress from the rest of the expedition. She had found this room by mistake but she was glad that she did. After having supper with Major Lorne, she needed some time for herself after today's mission. Ruth had liked being off-world but the meeting with the Chancellor and putting an animal to sleep wasn't what she had expected on her first off-world trip.

"So this is where you are?" Someone said.

Ruth looked up from her book, finding the commanding officer at Atlantis standing in the doorway. "Colonel, is there anything I can do for you?" She greeted him.

"John," He reminded her, "And no, Major Lorne told me what happened during the mission and I wanted to see if you were okay."

"Just a little tired but other than that I'm fine," She said and sent the Colonel a smile. She could see that he was looking at her book.

"What are you reading?" John asked, stepping closer to her.

"Madam Bovary by Gustav Flaubert."

"What is the book about?" John asked as he sat down next to her.

"It's about a Doctor's wife called Emma Bovary who has several affairs and she tries to escape her boring life," She explained.

"Is it any good?"

"I think so. You can borrow it when I'm done."

"I still have the War and Peace that I brought and I'm still not halfway through."

"Oh, War and Peace is such a good book," She said as her face lit up.

"You can borrow it if you want," John offered.

"Thank you, John. Maybe I will," She said and paused, "I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you know that I was here?"

"That's was the easy part. I got Chuck to pin point your location," John explained.

"Ah… That's good to know that someone is keeping track of you," She said and paused, "How are your ribs?"

"They're getting better. Soon I'll be able to go off-world."

"I'm sure that it's hard for you stay put in one place?"

John let out laugh, "You can say that, but I'm most looking forward to flying the puddle jumper again."

"I'm sure that it's difficult to fly a puddle jumper."

"Nah, when you get used to it, it isn't difficult. I can teach you to fly when my ribs get better," John promised her.

"Eh… I don't know if it's such a good idea to let _me _fly a puddle jumper."

"Hey, what can go wrong? I'll be next you anyway," John assured her.

"_Everything _can go wrong," She said as several things that could go wrong rushed through her head.

* * *

Okay! I hope that you guys enjoyed it. Stay tuned, I can spot some Sheppard whump in the distance :)


	5. Rumors, torture and James Bond part 1

A/N: I'm back with chapter 5 and there is a little spoiler from Duet.

* * *

Chapter 5 – Rumors, torture and the name is James Bond part 1

John was sitting with his friends in the Mess Hall eating lunch. He was about to take a bite of his turkey sandwich when he noticed his friends staring at a table nearby. He put down his sandwich.

"Is there something between Elizabeth and the scientist?" Teyla asked.

John changed his gaze in the same direction as his friends were looking and he spotted Elizabeth with the scientist that he had seen couple of times in the corridor but didn't know his name.

"His name is Dr. Mike Branton," Rodney broke in, "The rumor has it that they have been spending a lot of time together."

"Okay. Let's mind our own business and let them be," John said. He didn't care much about rumors that he heard going through the city. He believed that people's private life should be private.

"Talking about rumors, I've heard that you and the veterinarian are spending a lot of time together lately," Rodney admitted.

Ronon raised an eyebrow and smirking as he was looking at John. "That's something you haven't told me."

"Because we are just,-" John began answering Ronon but stopped, and changed his attention at McKay, "What have you heard?"

"Nothing much other than people has seen you walking out from the veterinarian's lab on several occasions."

"I think she seems like a nice person, John," Teyla replied, smiling, before John could answer Rodney.

"But if the other rumors are correct, you have some competition," Rodney told John.

"Who?" John asked with a raised eyebrow, but changing his mind, he slightly held up a hand stopping Rodney from answering his question, "You know what? I don't want to know. I'm sure that there is nothing to the rumors anyways." John stood up and grabbed his jacket.

"Where are you going?" Teyla wanted to know.

"I'm going to give Ruth flying lessons," John replied, "I'll see you guys later." With that John walked out and headed to Ruth's lab.

John quickly made his way to Dr. Abbott's lab, and as he stepped closer, he heard some voices. He stopped to listen in on the conversation and he knew that what he was doing was wrong.

"Katie! Don't say that!"

"So why are you blushing? He's handsome and I know by a fact that there are several women on this base that would had gladly thrown themselves at him if they had the chance. I'm surprised that they aren't throwing their panties at him when he's walking down the corridor. By the way, I heard what happened to the animals that you tried to help and to cheer you up; you have to come with me when we have girl's poker night. "

"I'm not blushing and he's just a friend, nothing more, and I'm hundred percent sure that he also looks at me as a friend." John could hear Ruth say. "But tell me, how was Dr. McKay on your date?"

John heard Katie letting out a snort, "Yeah right, if he and you are just friend, I'm Queen of England."

"The date, Katie?"

"Yes, the date. After that disaster date the second date was nice."

"Yeah, I heard about what happened to Dr. McKay and Lieutenant Cadman. Poor girl."

He could hear both of the women laugh.

"Okay, I have to go."

"Thank you, Katie, for the data about the plant viruses."

Before he knew it he was standing face to face with Dr. Brown. John grabbed her arms, stopping her from walk straight into him.

"Colonel Sheppard, I'm sorry, I didn't see you," Dr. Brown apologized.

"I'm the one who should apologize," John said and stepped to the side to let Katie pass. Katie gave him a smile and walked off.

Stepping into the lab, he saw that Ruth had gone back to work. "Hi, ready for your lesson?" He said, smiling.

Ruth looked up from her microscope and smiled when she spotted him, "Hi."

"What are you doing?" John asked as he stepped closer.

"I'm looking at the blood sample that I took from the lemurs from the planet that I was on with Major Lorne," She explained as her face saddened.

"Hey, what's wrong?" John had heard what had happened to the animals when Major Lorne's team and Ruth went back to look at them, they all had died the night before.

"It's frustrating that I can't seem to find what kind of virus is killing them. I've even asked Katie if she can give me data about virus from plants that are capable of infecting animals, and still I have a big fat nothing, UGH!" She said and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Maybe you need a break," John suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," She acknowledged and paused, "So, puddle jumper?"

John smiled and nodded. She took her jacket that was lying on the desk, and followed John out of her lab.

Walking down the corridor to the puddle jumper bay, John noticed that they were earning a couple of stares.

"Why are people staring at us?" Ruth asked, quickly looked up at John.

"Well, I have an idea."

"What?"

"I'll tell you when we get back," John said.

They quickly made their way to the bay. John opened the back of the jumper and walked in, causing the lights to turn on. Ruth quickly followed behind him, and she looked around in awe.

"I've been here a month and this is the first time I've stepped into a puddle jumper," She admitted.

"Then it was about time." John sat down in the passenger seat. "Well, I'm waiting."

Ruth sat down and looked down at the panel in front of her and then looked at John.

"Don't look at me, look at what you are doing," John dictated.

"Okay, relax, you sound just like my brother when he taught me to drive," She said, "Do that, watch that, don't driver over that guy, slow down, watch the lion."

John raised an eyebrow, "Lion?"

Ruth nodded, "Yes, a lion but don't worry. I didn't hit the lion, it jumped on the hood of the car and jumped down again."

Ruth looked down at the steering and took it with both of her hands. John pushed the gate address at the DHD in the puddle jumper, "Okay, now the floor beneath us is going to open and you have to fly slowly down and into the gate."

"Okay." Ruth tightened her grip around the steering and did what John had told her to do, and before she knew it, the puddle jumper was floating in front of an activated stargate.

"Good, and now fly it into the stargate."

Ruth flew the jumper into the stargate and in matter of second, the jumper was on the other side.

"Okay, now, push the cloaking generator."

"Which button is that?" Ruth looked down for a second to find the button. John pointed at it and she pushed it before looking up again.

"This is going surprisingly easy," Ruth said, grinning, "This is actually fun."

"I told you that flying a puddle jumper isn't that hard."

All of the sudden, John could hear a strange sound coming from the puddle jumper.

"Is the jumper supposed to sound like that?!"

"Move, I'll take over," John ordered and quickly changed placed with Ruth. He tried to steer the jumper but he couldn't. The jumper was dropping height.

"We are going to hit hard, so I need you to go to the back of the jumper and brace yourself for landing," John ordered but as he quickly looked over at Ruth, he could see it in her face that she was hesitating, "Go!"

Ruth fumbled her way to the back of the jumper. John tried to steer to make an emergency landing as smoothly as possible. It didn't take long before the puddle jumper was not far over the ground and the next thing John felt was a _heavy thud, and the last thing he felt was his head slamming into the control panel in front of him before everything went black. _

John's eyes slowly opened. For a couple of seconds he had forgotten what had happened but when he felt the aching pain in his body, he started to remember the crash. His body felt like it had been used like punching bag. He gently lifted his head and looked around. He was still in the puddle jumper but he was alone. Feeling some kind of wet substance running down his forehead, he placed a hand on the wet substance and then he looked at his hand.

Blood, he was bleeding from his forehead.

"Oh my God, John, you're hurt." Ruth hurried over to him and kneeled in front of him. "We need to clean the wound. Let me find the first aid kit," Ruth said and stood up.

John grabbed her arm, "No, I don't need it."

Ruth pulled her arm out of John's grip, "Don't be a chop."

"Don't be a what?" John asked.

"An idiot."

Being away for at least a couple of minutes, she came back with the first aid kit. Ruth placed it on the floor, opened it, took out the hydrogen peroxide and gauze, and poured some of the hydrogen peroxide on the gauze.

"This is going to sting a little," She warned him and gently placed the gauze on his wound.

John looked at the wildlife veterinarian as she was cleaning his wound. He didn't know her that well yet, but lately she had begun to open up to him. Her eyes halted at John. She smiled, "Is it something wrong?"

"No, not at all," John replied.

Ruth put the hydrogen peroxide and the used gauze back in the first aid kit and took out a band aid and glued it onto John's wound.

"There, I'm done." She stood up and walked to the back of the jumper.

"Maybe we should get moving back to the gate before night fall and before someone else finds us," John suggested, standing up and walked over to Ruth.

John opened the back of the jumper and took a step back as he saw that there were a couple of men standing and aiming their guns at them.

"Hands in the air!" One of the men shouted at them.

They immediately raised their hands in the air. "We're just peaceful travelers, so there is no need for aggression," John said, hoping that they would let them go.

"Down on your knees," the same man ordered and gestured his gun on the ground. John and Ruth did what they were told.

The men walked behind them and tied their hands behind their backs and lifted them up by the rope and pushed them forward.

"Okay, look, as I said, we are just peaceful travelers that had a slightly problem with our transportation. I promise that if you let us go, we'll forget this incident," John said, trying to convince them for the second time. However, instead of letting them go, John felt something hard on the back of his head and yet again, everything faded into black.

John's eyes opened and he looked around. This time he was not in the jumper but what looked like some kind of dark holding cell and he was alone. John's body was screaming in pain as he fumbled up on his feet. He walked over to the small window that was the only connection to the sun and he grabbed the iron bars that were in front of his window. Looking out, he spotted a couple of dead animals that were lying in the back ally that he was looking at.

Hearing footsteps, John stepped away from the window and changed his attention to the door in the holding cell. He clenched his fist together, ready to attack if he had the chance.

The footstep stopped outside the door and it opened, reviling several men with guns.

"Come with me," One of the men demanded. John walked out of the holding cell with two guards behind him, two on the side and one in front of him. John was escorted to the main street of the village causing several people to jump to the side in fear. John felt like he was being escorted to his execution. He suddenly didn't feel very well but he would never ever show that.

They walked into a house and he was pushed down into the basement of the house where he spotted two wooden chairs and a table. John was pushed down into one of the chairs and his hands were tied of the back of it. His eyes were glued on the various instruments that were lying in front of him. Fearing what they were going to do with them, the hair on the back of his neck was rising. Suddenly the door opened and someone walked down and placed a bucket of water in front of him.

"Okay," The leader said and sat down on the chair that was on the other side of the small wooden table, "Tell me, who are you?"

"And why do you want to know my name?" John replied casually.

"Because I want to know the people who were trespassing," The man replied and leaned back in the chair, "You know what, you remind me of someone." He changed his gaze at the man behind John, "Cletus, doesn't he remind you of the Colonel the Genii told us about? What was his name again?"

"Colonel John Sheppard," Cletus told his boss.

"That's right," He said and looked at John again, "Colonel John Sheppard. What's your name?"

John just stared at the man. The man gave a signal to Cletus that was standing behind John, and suddenly he felt a hand grabbing a hold of his hair and in the matter of second, his head was under water. His vision got blurry from the water and he tried to hold his breath, but in the matter of seconds he felt like his head was going to explode due to the ice cold water.

After couple of minutes, John felt that someone took a hold of his hair and dragged his head up from the water. Once he was up, he started to cough out the water.

"I don't have patience," The leader sneered at John, "So I ask you again. Tell me your name and what you were doing in the woods with that girl."

He just sat there, staring at the man without flinching as much as a muscle. The man looked at the man who was standing behind John, "Cletus, It looks like this guy wants some more water. Let's see how long he'll last under water before his body is twitching for some air."

Suddenly he felt Cletus grabbing onto his hair and pushed his head into the bucket. Again, in matter of second after his head hit the ice cold water, he felt like his brain was about to explode.

John was good at holding his breath under water but even he had limitation on how long it was humanly possible and he felt that his lungs were burning for some air.

His head was dragged up from the water. It ran down John's face and mouth as he coughed it up.

"Okay okay, I'll tell you my name," He began, as he continued coughing out the water, "My name is Bond, James Bond."

"Well well, Mr. Bond. Now that I know your name, I want to know what the thing you were flying was and what you were doing in the woods, and who you work for and where you come from."

Without any warning the door flew up and down came a man that John hadn't seen before. "Aland, the women are ready and the buyers are here."

Aland held his intense gaze at John as an evil smirk was forming like curve on his face, "I'm coming, but Bosley, take the woman that was accompanying Mr. Bond and put her with the other women. Maybe I'll get a decent offer for her." Aland stood up and as he walked past Cletus, he stopped. "Do whatever it takes to get some more information from him." Cletus nodded.

When Aland and Bosely had stepped out of the basement, Cletus took the bucket of water and placed it on the ground and shifted his attention back at John. He grabbed John's hair and slammed his head in to the table and dragged John's head back up with force, bending his head backwards. "Tell me more about yourself," Cletus whispered into the Colonel's ear.

* * *

She was sitting in her office reading the recent mission reports. A knock made her look up from her laptop. "Chuck, what can I do for you?"

"Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Abbott haven't checked in and they left four hours ago," Chuck informed the head of the base.

Elizabeth frowned, "Okay, do you know which gate address they went to?"

Chuck nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

"I'll let Major Lorne and his team know about the situation. Maybe they can check out what happened to them," Elizabeth said.

"Okay, Ma'am." Chuck turned around and crossed the little bridge over to the control room.

Elizabeth tapped on her earpiece, "Major Lorne, this is Dr. Weir. I need you my office immediately."

It didn't take long before Major Lorne was standing her office.

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" Major Lorne said.

"Yes, Colonel Sheppard was giving Dr. Abbott some flying lessons and that was 4 hours ago, and I want you to check to see what happened to them," Elizabeth ordered, worried.

Major Lorne nodded, "Yes, Ma'am, I'll gather my team as well as Rodney, Teyla and Ronon."

"Thank you, Major."

Major Lorne spun around on his heal and marched out the office to gather his team and got ready.


	6. Rumors, torture and James Bond part 2

A/N: I'm back with chapter 6. If someone of you are reading my other story Mental Insanity, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm working on chapter 3 on Mental Insanity, so don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it. I also want to thank my beta reader Anna Becker.

* * *

Chapter 6 – Rumors, torture and the name is James Bond part 2

John sat in his holding cell, leaning his back against the wall. He was breathing heavily and blood dropped from his mouth and nose. The wound on his forehead had started to bleed again and run down his face. The aching pain that he had felt before the two hours of torture had gotten worse and he didn't know how much he could take. He didn't know how to get out of this but he knew that Ruth was perhaps long gone.

Hearing footsteps, he slowly turned his attention to the prison door. The footsteps stopped outside and the door opened. "Get in with you, you useless thing," Someone said, and in came Ruth almost flying straight into the ground. The door closed behind her.

Ruth looked around in the holding cell. When her eyes met his, she scrambled her way to her feet and hurried over to him. She collapsed next to John, "John, my God, What have they done to you." She gently placed her hand on the side of his face. John looked into the worrying blue eyes.

"I'm fine," John insisted, trying to give her one of his boyish smile but was ruined by the blood in his face.

"No, you are not fine. Look at you," She commented, "Every time you are with me, you get injured."

"Stop, none of this is your fault. Accidents happen, and don't worry. I'm sure that people are looking for us by now."

Ruth opened her mouth to say something but she changed her mind, sat down and snuggled deep into his shoulder and placed a hand on his chest. John put his arm around her shoulder.

"What happened to you?" John asked, looking down at the woman.

"I was placed in another holding cell with other women. We were all taken out from the cell and ordered to stand in a line while there were men scanning us up and down. They chose three of the women and disappeared with them. The rest of us were taken back to the prison," She told him and looked up at him meeting his hazel brown eyes, "I've never been so scared in my life."

"Don't worry, they'll find us," John assured her, pulled her even closer to him and closed his eyes to get some rest.

"John?" He abruptly opened his eyes.

"What is it, John?" Ruth asked who had opened her eyes when she felt that he had moved a little.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"John?" He heard someone whisper again.

"That." John managed to stand up causing Ruth to sit up straight, and walked over to the window.

Looking out he spotted a face that he had been looking forward to see again, "Rodney," He whispered back, "What are you doing here?"

"Uhm, we are obviously rescuing you as always," Rodney pointed out.

"Thank you for that but where are the rest?" John looked around in the back ally.

"They are preparing to get you and Dr. Abbott out. I'm just here to warn you that there is going to be a very loud bang and lot of smoke in a couple of seconds. So cover your eyes and mouth. Okay, hopefully I'll see you in a couple of minutes," Rodney explained and rushed away.

John turned around, "Okay, so it will be a loud bang and a lot of smoke soon, so cover your eyes and mouth." John sat down next to Ruth, leaned over her to cover her.

As Rodney had said, John could hear a loud bang and then smoke came floating in through the iron bars that were on the cell door. John could recognize the gunshots that he could hear coming from P-90. After a couple of gunshots the cell door flew open.

"John!" John's heart jumped in happiness when he heard Teyla's voice. "Major Lorne, Lt. Reed and Ronon are holding off the guards, we need to hurry.

John stood up and lifted Ruth up on her feet, "Let's get out of here."

John and Ruth followed Teyla out from the prison door and entered a narrow corridor and ran after Teyla. While they were running, the sounds of the P-90s silenced and it became quiet, a little too quiet for John's liking. After a couple of corners, they arrived to the entrance of the building complex. They were met by Major Lorne, Lt. Reed and Ronon that was standing over the guard's body.

"Major, Lieutenant, Ronon," John greeted them, "Good to see you. How did you guys find us?"

"We'll explain everything in the jumper," Teyla said.

"Okay, let's get back to the jumper," John suggested.

"But what about the other girls?" Ruth asked.

Major Lorne frowned as his eyes fell at Ruth, "What other girls?"

"They are operating some kind of human trafficking ring," John broke in.

"Do you know where they are located?" Teyla asked.

"They are in the basement in the building that we were held."

"I don't think we have time to,-" Ronon began to say but had to take cover as the rest did. They could hear several gunshots that were aimed at them. John felt like a sitting duck with no gun to protect himself.

"Mr. Bond, I'm know that you are here. I'm going to get you or your little missy one day. Trust me, and I will not be as kind as I was this time. I'm a man of my words. You'll feel the pain of my wrath, Mr. Bond!" John heard Aland scream as the gunshots was flying beside them.

"Friend of yours?" Ronon asked without looking at Sheppard as he was responding the gunshots.

"You can say that."

"Okay, we need to fall back to the jumper! Teyla, take Dr. Abbott and the Colonel back to the jumper. Ronon, Lt. Reed and I will cover your back," Major Lorne suggested.

John grabbed Ruth's arm, stood up halfway and ran fast has his legs could carry him with Teyla and Ruth back to the jumper. Arriving to the jumper, Sgt. Stevens lower the back of the jumper, so they could walk in.

Sgt. Stevens stepped outside, "Sir, good to see you," He greeted his superior officer.

"Good to see you too, Sergeant."

"We need to go now!" Major Lorne yelled as they came running back to the jumper.

John, Ruth and Teyla hurried into the jumper followed by the rest of the group. The back closed and Lt. Reed immediately hurried over to the front to get the jumper in the air. Inside the jumper John came face to face with the man that had tortured him for good two hours. John walked slowly toward them, pointing at Cletus and Baland that had been gaged, tied up and blindfolded, "What are they doing here?"

"They are the reason we found you, Sir. We spotted them walking the woods while one of them was talking about the man he had been torturing, we ambushed them and made Ronon question them," Sgt. Stevens informed, "What do you want to do with them, Sir?"

John looked at the two men, thinking about what to do. He walked over to Ronon and held out his hand, "Can I borrow your gun?" Ronon smiled, fished out his gun from his belt and handed over to his best friend.

John walked over to the two men and aimed it at them as he placed a finger next to the trigger and pulled the trigger with his finger. After the two men had fallen down where they had been sitting, John gave Ronon his gun back.

"You didn't kill them," Ronon pointed out, growling.

"Yes, I didn't," John replied his friend and turned back at the Major who was looking like a question mark, "Let's drop them off on another planet."

Major Lorne gave his commanding officer a quick nod, "Yes, Sir," He said, still holding the Colonel's gaze. A smile was forming on his lips, "Mr. Bond, Sir?"

"Long story, Major. I'll tell you everything over a beer when we get back," Sheppard promised.

He was sitting on a bed in the infirmary. Before they had gotten back to Atlantis, they had dropped Cletus and Baland off on a random planet. John had to admit that it was tempting to take them back to Atlantis to 'question' them as they had done to him, but he had a feeling that Elizabeth wouldn't had agreed with him After he had gotten back to Atlantis, he had been ordered by Carson to be checked out . Carson had run every kind of tests to check to see if he was in good condition, he also cleaned his wounds and the blood from John's face.

"How are you feeling, lad?" Dr. Beckett asked, stepping closer to his bed.

"I'm fine, Carson, I really don't need to be here," John replied.

"I'm glad that you are feeling better," Carson said and smiled, "You are free to go but before you go. I want you to make an appointment with Dr. Heightmeyer."

"I'm feeling fine, Doc. I don't need to talk with Dr. Heightmeyer."

"People who have been tortured tend to get after effects," Dr. Beckett said, and slightly raised a hand when he saw that John was about to protest, "I don't want to discuss this. I was not suggesting that you make an appointment, I was ordering you."

John let out a defeated sigh, "Okay, I will. Thank you, Carson." John hoped down from the bed, headed out from the infirmary and made his way straight to Ruth's lab but arriving at the lab, he found an empty lab.

He tapped on his earpiece that he had gotten back, "Chuck, this is Colonel Sheppard, I need you to check where Dr. Abbott is located."

"Sir, _Dr. Abbott is located in the reading room_," Chuck informed.

"Thanks."

"_No problem, Sir." _

John made his way to the reading room where he found Ruth reading her book. "There you are." Ruth looked up from her book. "I've been looking for you. I went to your lab but you weren't there, so,-".

"So you made Chuck locate where I was," Ruth said, finishing off his sentence. John could hear the annoyance in her voice.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He stepped closer.

Ruth closed her book and stood up. Her face softened as her eyes fell on John, "I don't know how to say this but I've been thinking, and I think its best that you stay away from me." Ruth was about to walk past him when John grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him and grabbed her other arm.

"What do you mean?" John wanted to know as he frowned, still holding her arms.

"Please, John. I'm an accident magnet and I don't want you to get even more hurt. It's my fault."

"But as I said in the holding cell, everything that happened is not your fault, you just need some time to get everything out of your system," John said, sounding confused.

"Besides I've,-" She began.

"Besides what?" John said, interrupting her, and starting to sound a little mad. A strange feeling washed over him.

_Why is she pushing me away just as she had started to open up to me?_ John thought as he was looking down at her.

"Besides, I've heard what people are saying behind my back, and to be honest, I actually agree," She admitted.

"Ruth, don't listen to stupid rumors. I'm sure that there is not any truth to the rumors."

"Please, John, I have some work to do," She said almost whispering, trying to avoid looking into his hazel brown eyes. As John let go of her arms, Ruth bounced out of the room, leaving John alone in the reading room.

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys liked the chapter. If you are worried that there won't be anymore Sheppard whump have nothing to worry about. I ain't letting Sheppard off the hook that easily.


	7. Can we talk?

Chapter 7 -

John was sitting in the Mess Hall watching Rodney who was shoving a huge piece of steak in his mouth. "Would you mind making the pieces that you shove in your mouth a little smaller so you won't look like some kind of predator?"

Rodney looked up from his food, swallowed the steak he had in his mouth and put his fork down, "Okay, look, Kirk. You don't need to let your personal life interfere with my eating habits, thanks" Rodney stated, "Is this about that wildlife veterinarian?"

"I'm sure that you have heard what happened already."

"No, nothing other than people saying that she is bad for you and that you should stay away from her since she is an accident magnet," Rodney said and took his fork in his hands and continued eating.

He quickly stood up from his chair.

Rodney looked up at him, "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take care of something," John stated and hurried out of the Mess Hall, and made his way to Ruth's lab. Stepping closer to the lab, he spotted Major Lorne walking out of Ruth's lab. The Major stopped as John closed the gap between them, "Major, I'm surprised to see you here."

"Sir," The Major greeted him, "I was just dropping off some food for Dr. Abbott."

"Oh, that was nice of you," John said.

"But I'll let you go," Major Lorne said and gave him a nod and continued on his way.

John stepped into Ruth's lab, "Hi."

Other than a couple hellos, he hadn't spoken to her since the last time they had talked to each other in the reading room, and that had been two weeks ago.

Ruth turned in her chair, "Hello, What can I help you with, John?"

"I heard from Rodney what people are saying," He began.

"So, you understand me."

"Actually no, I don't understand you. One minute you are opening up to me and in the next minute you are pushing me away. You know what; I think the rumors are just an excuse for you push people away when you start opening up to someone. I don't care what people are saying and you are not some kind of accident magnet."

"Maybe you are right, John. But Elizabeth didn't bring me here to be the center of almost all the rumors in the city," Ruth said with an annoyed voice, "Do you think it's nice to hear that people are talking bad behind your back? Because I knew from a very young age how it is. I'm getting flashbacks from a time of my life that I want to forget and I thought that when people get older they grow up, but apparently some people at this base haven't grown up."

"Fine," John simply said, spun around on his heels and started to march out of the lab.

"Wait." She let out a tired sigh. John stopped and turned around. "Can we talk later today?"

John stepped closer to her, "Okay, reading room?"

Ruth nodded, "Yes," she said, "I'll see you during the meeting."

John was walking down the corridor with Rodney, Dr. Zelenka and his second in command. It was time for the meeting with the different departments that they held once every week. He wasn't practically looking forward to the meeting. He usually didn't like long meetings.

The three men approached the conference room that was located next to the control room. Scanning the room quickly, John saw the different head of departments were already waiting. His eyes fell on Ruth who was sitting next to Major Lorne who had made his way next to Ruth, looking at him but pulled back her gaze when she noticed that he was gazing at her. He sat down next to Rodney.

"I'm sorry that I'm late," Elizabeth apologized as she stepped into the conference room. She sat down at the far end of the long table next to John, "Who wants to start?"

"I can start, Dr. Weir," A man said that John recognized as the head of the linguistic department.

"Thank you, Dr. Hunter."

Dr. Hunter opened his notes, pushed his glasses back on his nose, stood up and stepped in front of the group, "The linguistic department,-".

John didn't pay much attention at what Dr. Hunter was saying. Glancing over at the Major and Ruth, he saw that Lorne was whispering something to her making her laugh quietly. For some reason a wave of jealousy washed over him.

"Thank you, Dr. Hunter," Elizabeth said, smiling.

"Dr. Abbott, can we have your report about the animal situation?" Elizabeth asked, politely. John immediately pulled back his gaze.

"Of course." Ruth stood up from her chair and walked in front and clicked on the small remote which made the screen change. The past month there has been several reports of several sick animals, and with cooperation with Dr. Beckett and the medical department, we have narrowed it down to two viruses that can be the reasons why so many animals are getting ill. The first one is Ebola Virus which and the second one is Lassa fever. "

Elizabeth frowned, "But isn't Ebola and Lassa fever Earth viruses?"

"Yes, but there is a possibility that the Ancients brought both of the viruses with them when they got back to Earth and those viruses evolved themselves into the viruses we know today as Ebola and Lassa fever." It was Dr. Beckett time to speak up.

"What's the symptoms?" John asked, crossing his arms.

"The symptoms for the Ebola virus are sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, and very often it is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding," He informed and paused, "And the symptoms Lassa fever are retrosternal pain, sore throat, back pain, cough, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, facial swelling, proteinuria and mucosal bleeding. Neurological problems have also been described, including hearing loss, tremors, and encephalitis. Because the symptoms of Lassa fever are so varied and nonspecific, clinical diagnosis is often difficult," Dr. Beckett finished listing one gruesome symptom after another.

"Are we looking at an epidemic?" Dr. Weir asked worried.

"Well, I can't tell anything for sure but since majority of the planets don't have the right medicine and both of the viruses are capable of infecting animals that again can infect humans, there is a huge chance for an epidemic in the galaxy. If we don't take precautions, off-world teams might bring back one of the viruses that can infect the people here," Ruth explained.

Dr. Weir leaned back in her chair, "Is there anything we can do?"

"We just need to take some more tests to make sure which virus we are dealing with, so we can give the right medicine to the animals and hopefully prevent an epidemic."

"Okay, Dr. Beckett, I want you to come up with some precautions for the Off-world teams with Colonel Sheppard, and I want Dr. Abbott to prepare medicine for the animals," Dr. Weir ordered and stood up, "The meeting is done."

John stood up and hurried after Ruth out from the conference room. "Ruth," He called out as he walked down the stairs, trying to catch up with her. She stopped. "Are we still meeting later today?" He asked her as he walked closer to her.

"Of course, shall we meet in the meeting room around 9 pm?"

"Sure, that sounds good," John said, smiling.

"See you later, John," Ruth said and walked off.

* * *

Ruth was heading to the reading room where she was going to meet John. She had missed talking to him and listing to him. She stepped into the transport, looked up from her book and pushed on the part of Atlantis where the reading room was located, and dug her nose back into the book. After a couple of seconds, the transported stopped and the door opened, and Ruth stepped out from.

Noticing that for some reason it was dark, she looked up from her book, it was pitch black. She couldn't see a thing. She about to tap her earpiece but then she remembered that she had left it back in her quarters. Her heart started to beat faster and her palms had started to get sweaty. She turned to get back to the transport. She reached her arms out to try to feel her way to the transporter, but she couldn't find it. She turned back around and started to walk in the dark with her arms reached out to guide her way through the corridor.

"Somebody here?!" She called out but no answered her. Walking a couple of steps, she stepped into something wet which she felt like water.

"Anybody!" She cried out. As she continued walking, she felt the water was starting to reach her knees. She could feel her throat was tightening and the panic was starting to set. It's like she had stepped into a Sci-Fi version of Titanic only instead of being trapped in a ship, she was trapped in corridor in a city that was floating on water.

"Okay, Ruth. This is going to be okay, you can make this. There is no Wraith here, so you are fine. Just breath," Ruth told herself to calm herself down. _Oh my God, what they don't find her or didn't notice that she was gone?_ Ruth thought as her throat started to tighten even more.

Making her way through the corridor only with a hand to guide her, she stepped closer to the wall. As she slid her hand against the wall, she felt that she had reached a doorway and she carefully walked into the room. She came to a sudden stop when she felt that she had walked into something. She bent down a little to feel what she had walked into. It felt like a chair. She sat down on the chair and let out a quick prayer.

It had been several hours since she had ended up in the pitch black corridor filled with water, or at least it felt like she had been there for several hours. She was still sitting on the stool she had found. Ruth was tired and she was shivering, and every time her eyes were slipping, she forced them to open. Her eyes had been used to the darkness but it didn't mean that it was less scary to sit in a pitch black corridor in another galaxy. Her eyes felt like bricks. She was about to close her eyes when she spotted some lights that looked like it came from a flashlight.

"Ruth!" Her eyes shot open. _John. _

"John! I'm here!" She yelled out and automatically hoped down from the stool and started to run through the water while guiding her way with her arms. She could hear footsteps running through the water towards her. Getting out to the corridor, the flashlight blinded her. Her heart leaped in happiness. She rushed through the water towards John and threw herself at him. He responded with a tight hug.

"You're freezing." John pulled back, took of his uniform jacket and pulled it over Ruth.

"I'm so sorry, John," She said as she was trembling still clinging onto John, "There was something wrong with the transporter, and I.. I ..," She stammered.

"It's okay, McKay will find out what happened to the transporter. Let's get you out of here," John said and guided her out from the corridor while she was holding on to him.


End file.
